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Elizabeth Drew

Elizabeth Drew (born November 16, 1935) is an American political journalist and author.

Elizabeth Drew

Elizabeth Brenner

(1935-11-16) November 16, 1935

American

Political journalist and author

J. Patterson Drew
(m. 1964; died 1970)
David Webster
(m. 1981; died 2003)

Early life[edit]

Elizabeth Brenner was born on November 16, 1935, in Cincinnati, Ohio.[1] She is the daughter of William J. Brenner, a furniture manufacturer,[2] and Estelle Brenner (née Jacobs).[3]


Drew attended Wellesley College, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and graduated in 1957 with a BA in political science. Her first job in journalism was with Congressional Quarterly from 1959.[4]

Personal life[edit]

Drew was married to J. Patterson Drew from 1964 until his death in 1970 and was married to David Webster from 1981[16] until his death in 2003.[17] She currently resides in Washington D.C.

Criticism[edit]

In 1986, the editors of Snooze: The Best of Our Magazine parodied her as "Elizabeth Drone," author of a "Giant Postcard From Washington."[18]


In 1989, Spy magazine labeled her as the "author of too-frequent Washington columns."[19]


In 2014, President Richard Nixon's former aide Frank Gannon disputed Drew’s “blithe assertions that Nixon was a Dilantin-addicted alcoholic,” arguing that they were “as untrue as they are ugly.”[20]

American Journal: The Events of 1976 (1977)

Senator (1979)

Portrait of an Election: The 1980 Presidential Campaign (1981)

Politics and Money: The New Road to Corruption (1983)

Campaign Journal: Political Events of 1983–84 (1985)

Election Journal: Political Events of 1987–88 (1989)

On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency (1994)

Showdown: The Struggle Between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House (1996)

Whatever It Takes: The Real Struggle for Political Power in America (1997)

The Corruption of American Politics: What Went Wrong and Why (1999)

Citizen McCain (2002)

Fear and Loathing in George W. Bush's Washington (2004)

Richard M. Nixon (The American Presidents series) (2007)

from The New York Review of Books

Elizabeth Drew archive

Drew audio interview on Barack Obama's transition strategy, his cabinet picks, and the new style of governance

on C-SPAN

Appearances